ESV. Tomori M.A. THE UNIQUE POSITION OF OLUBADAN’S IN YORUBA TRADITIONAL HISTORY By: ESV. Tomori M.A. anivs, rsv, mnim Email: [email protected] Tel: 08037260502 Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi in his interview with Femi Makinde on January 1, 2017, Sunday Punch, raised a lot of issues concerning Ibadan Chieftaincy System, settlements of Yoruba refugees within his domain in the nineteenth century and his family background which linked Iwo to the cradle, Ile-Ife. There are good reasons why we should seek to expand our understanding of the past, because each of us is a product of history. The more we understand our past that brought us to where we are today, the better we are likely to understand ourselves, who we are and where we are going History needs to be, as indeed it is, re-written from time to time and past events revalued in the light of fresh developments and new ideas. The facts of history are not settled by verbal insults or mere ego-tripping. Historical knowledge and enlightenment cannot translate to controversies, if the purpose is to seek and break new grounds over historical dogma and make-belief accounts. Every historical account, like other fields of knowledge must draw its premises and conclusion from sound logic. The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, should know that historical accounts all over the world have been noted to have an evolutionary trend when previously held beliefs, opinions and concepts are demolished under the weight of more factual, verifiable and attainable revelations by new frontiers of knowledge. The history of Ibadan and Iwo including those of other sub-ethnic groups in Yorubaland is not immune to this kind of historical trend. BACKGROUND Ile-Ife, according to Dr. J.A. Atanda (1980) was only one of the early Yoruba settlements. Growing side by side with Ile-Ife and deriving inspiration from it were other centres of Yoruba settlement which developed into well-organized political entities known as kingdoms such as: Owu, oyo, Ijebu, Ijesa, Popo, Egba, Sabe, Dassa, Egbado, Igbomina, the sixteen Ekiti principalities, Owo and Ondo. The ruling dynasties of most, if not all, of these kingdoms trace their origin to Ile- Ife and descent directly or indirectly to Oduduwa. 1 ESV. Tomori M.A. Also, at various other times, according to Chief (Dr.) M.A. Fabunmi (1985), the Odole Atobase of Ife, after this royal exodus, several illustrious personalities, wither individually or in groups, migrated from Ile-Ife for diverse reasons e.g. hunting adventure, ambition to found own villages and towns. For example, Adekola Telu, the progenitor of the founder of Iwo, Ogunfunminire who built Isheri, Lagelu, Oro Apatamaja (nickname), who founded Ibadan e.t.c. Consequently, Yoruba people are made up of a number of subgroups of which the principal ones are as follows, according to Oluremi I. Obateru, 2006: (i) The Awori of Badagry area of Western Lagos State; (ii) The Egbado (now Yelwa) and Egba of Western Ogun State; (iii) The Oyo and Ibadan of Northern and Southern Oyo State respectively; (iv) The Ijebu of Eastern Ogun State; (v) The Ife and Ijesha of Southern Osun State (vi) The Osun of Northern Osun State; (vii) The Iloye and Ikale of Southern Ondo State; (viii) The Ondo,Akure and Owo of Central; Ondo State; (ix) The Akoko of Northern Ondo State; (x) The Ekiti of Ekiti State; (xi) The Igbomina of Ilorin area, Kwara State; (xii) The Yagba, Bunu and Aworo (Kakanda) of Kabba District. Finally, the process of establishing Oduduwa type of monarchy, according to Professor I.A. Akinjogbin (2002); went from about the 9th century until about the 115th century or later. Not all the kingdom went directly from Ife, many others went from the kingdom that originally migrated from Ile-Ife. All of them hd one symbol or the other that tied them to Ile-Ife and made them “sons of Oduduwa”, so that today after about a thousand years of history, most Oba’s who wear the beaded crown are regarded as descendants of Oduduwa. THE FOUNDATION AND FOUNDING FATHERS OF IBADAN It should be understood from the oral and written traditions that there are “three Ibadans”. The ancestral founder of the first Ibadan migrated from Ile-Ife who was called Lagelu “Oro-apata-maja from Degelu Compound Ajamapo area, in Ile-Ife. As the oral traditions explain, the first Ibadan disintegrated as a result of destruction. The survivor of the destruction and Lagelu sought refuge on Oke’badan hills at Awotan on Akufo road, Ido Local Government Area, Ibadan. From this place, the present Ibadan was established around 1784 A.D., called “Ori-yangi” 2 ESV. Tomori M.A. The present site located at the foot of Mapo Hill was divided into six (6) quarters namely: (i) Itun Eledumare (2) Itun Akaasi (3) Itun Ogboni Lisa (4) Itun Gbede Oke Ob (5) Itun Ilaro/Iseri, and (6) Oke ati Isale Atan. Political crisis and the wars in northern Yorubaland, which ultimately led to the fall of the Oyo Empire early in the nineteen century, and the Owu Wars between Ile –Ife and Ijebu on one side and the Owus on the other fought between 114-1820 were prelude to the establishment of the “third Ibadan”. Olowu Akinjobi sought refuge at the “Second Ibadan” ruled by Lagelu’s descendant to give rise to the establishment of Owu Ogbere. As a result of the death of Olubadan’s daughter sacrificed by Olowu Akinjobi to the goddess of Oba River, another Owu war broke out. This second Ibadan suffered from defeat and desertion. It was later occupied by War Chiefs who took part in destroying surrounding Egba towns taking possession of any compound they chose. According Rev. Samuel Johnson (1912-1978 page 224), the war chiefs and their men from Oyo, Ife, Ijebu and friendly Egbas repeopled Ibadan again but not by the owners of the town. Maye Okunade, a bold and brave Ife Chieftain being their leader while Labosinde another Ife man was the deputy, but his mother was a princess of Ikoyi, an Oyo Provincial town. There was a remarkable political change in the 1820s and 1830s when the settlement of Ibadan was transformed from a mere agglomeration of different settles into a permanent town principally owned, inhabited, and controlled by the Oyo refugees, according to Toyin Falola (1989), the initial congregation at Ibadan was along ethnic lines: the numerically superior Ife soldiers and Oyo-Yoruba refugees chose Oja-Iba; the Ijebu lived in the south at Isale-Ijebu and settled at Yiosa. This pattern of settlement was a clear indication of the esxisitng political cleavages in Ibadan war camp. Each group had its leaders, and the people looked upon them for authority. It was the attempt by the notables among these military leaders to create an hegemony, one that would cut across ethnic lines that accounted for the “civil wars. Since the Owu war, Ile-Ife leaders; Maye Okunade ands Labosinde, had acquired tremendous respect and power. The period of 1820s was also a period of strength for the Ife kingdom, which saw Ibadan camp as an extension of its territory and power. What threatened Ife’s hegemony at Ibadan was the numeral superiority of the Oyo as well as the political ambition of the leading members of its ruling class. 3 ESV. Tomori M.A. Foundation of Abeokuta The Egba were the first casualty in this rivalry. They were expelled from Ibadan and had to migrate to Abeokuta where a new, more secure and permanent home was established in 1830 led by Chief Sodeke who died in A.D. 1844 In the Nigeria Tribune of 10th September, 2010 Oba Adepju Tejuoso said; “Tejuoso was the Chief High Priest of the Egba to settle in Abeokuta. The Egba arroved in Abeokuta (under Olumo Rock) on August, 1830, that is, Egba Alake, Oke-Ona and Gbagura.the Owu came in 1834. Tejuoso’s aternal Great-Grandfather Karunwi was crowned as the first Osile Oke-Ona Egba in Abeokuta in 1890”. On August 5, 1975, Oba Onipede, the Alake was crowned in Abeokuta; a reminiscence of the 1830 day in Aughst as above. It was some considerable time after 1834 that Ijaiye joined them, and so by degree all the Egba townships, about 153, became concentrated at Abeokuta, the new town comprising Ijemo, Itoko and a few others who were already on the spot (Rev. Samuel Johnson, 1921). Iyalode Efunroye Osuntinubu, who was born in 1805at Ijokodo, Gbagura to the Egba tribe of the Yoruba nation, her family was among about 150 migrants that resettled under the leadership of Egba veteran war leader, Sodeke. They all found common refuge under Olumo Rock at Abeokuta in 1830 (Prince Adelegan Adegbola, 2009 page 370). Even, according to Samuel Johnson, after the foundation of Abeokuta there were still some Egbas residing at Ibadan. Egba women also who were unable or unwilling to go with their husbands to the new settlement were taken as wives by the new colonist at Ibadan and they became the mothers of the children of the first generation of the new Ibadan - i.e. the “third Ibadan. THE FALL OF MAYE OKUNADE The final episode was the political rivalry between the Ife and the Oyo which culminated in a war for the control of Ibadan which was referred to as GBANAMU WAR in 1833. The Ife attracted support from Edunabon, Erunmu and Ipetmodu; and Oyo- Yoruba who also received assistance from Ijaye, Ede and Iwo where there were other pockets of refugees. The Oyo-Yoruba won, and Ibadan became, up till today, an Oyo- Yoruba town.